Shlomi Langer, head of the Samaria region of Oranit, spoke to Arutz Sheva about his memories of Noam Ron, 49. Langer explained that he first met Ron several years ago, when the two had children in the same schools.

“Since I became head of the regional council he’s helped me quite a bit with his wisdom, his experience regarding education and educational crises with high school students, and his creative ideas,” Langer said.

“This is a sad day for Oranit,” he added.

Many residents of the town may not even have realized that Ron was a pilot, he said. “Noam Ron is the salt of the earth, with his smile, his sandals, his love of the land. In his missions, even at the hardest times – the operations in the north and south, he would go out at night on missions and return in the morning and go to work like everyone else.”

Ron’s family suffered an earlier tragedy, he noted, with the death of his brother – also a pilot – in an accident. The community of Oranit will do everything it can to help the family, he said.

A friend of Erez Flexer’s spoke Tuesday to Army Radio (Galei Tzahal). “Erez was a great guy,” he said. “One of the things that stood out most about him was that he loved to hike and travel. He would always hike in Israel, every time he had a vacation he would organize a group.”

“Erez loved to fly,” he continued. “But at some point it turned into more of an obligation than a love of flying. An obligation and responsibility and the understanding that it was what he had to do, and if he didn’t do it, someone else would have to.”

Noam Ron is survived by his parents, brother, sister, wife and three children. Erez Flexer is survived by his mother, three siblings, his wife and a four-month-old son.